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Elections for PMI Phoenix Chapter Board Positions

Elections for PMI Phoenix Chapter Board Positions

We are looking for 5 courageous leaders to join our board!

Each position is for a two-year term, starting in January 2023.

How do I submit a nomination?

Click here: Nomination Form

Where can I get more information?

Follow this link to the Chapter Elections webpage

What is the elections process for 2022?

  1. PMI Phoenix Chapter Nominations Committee evaluates nominees May 1 - June 30
  2. Nominee agreement to be on the ballot
    1. Resume submission
    2. Panel interview with Nominations Committee
    3. Nominations Committee confirms nominees and requests presentations in June
  3. Ballot finalized by July 1
  4. Nominee's presentation to PMI Phoenix Chapter members in July
  5. Elections open on August 1
  6. Elections close on September 1
  7. Results presentation to PMI Phoenix Chapter members in September
  8. The transition of the outgoing board to the incoming board September - December

For any additional questions, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Volunteer Spotlight - Tom Wilp

A quick review of risk: an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on one or more project objectives. —PMBOK®

 “Harry Hall states, if you say the word “risk” to ten people, each person may think of something different— insurance, threats, investments, bets, or potential loss. As we manage project teams, it's critical that you and your team members have a common understanding of what project risk means. Otherwise, people will be confused by your risk management efforts. The important thing is to obtain agreement with your team about how to define risk. Include the definition in your risk management plan.” 

Another important factor is the project success criteria which refers to measurable terms of what should be the outcome of the project that is acceptable to the end user, customer, and the stakeholders. In other words, the project success factors consist of activities or elements that are required to ensure successful completion of the project. In order to deliver project value, the success criteria should be well defined. Make sure that the documentation of the criteria is done at the start of the project. Also, make sure that the success criteria are properly communicated to the team. The criteria should also reflect on the project deliverables through effective project planning and at the end of the day, the success criteria should not be regarded as a set-in-stone. Instead, the manager should strive to go beyond the success criteria and exceed the expectations of the clients. This is a sure-fire way to project success.

Tom’s words of wisdom as a leader are the “first step is to understand the tools and techniques. Build your toolset up in both areas. I then assist them with guidance but i do not solve the problem for them. They need to work with the stakeholders and solve the problem for themselves. Keep the stakeholders informed, they need your project to succeed. Be transparent and do not hide stuff. You need to have the confidence to walk into the c level suite and have the conversation since they are normal people.”

“i mentor and coach on risk management it is a different beast - this goes to all team members not just the project management office, it is a team effort. Execute risk management throughout the project not just at the start of the project. If the risks are not reviewed and each project team is at the same place on the projects, then elevate the company to continually assess risk. Risk management is often ignored or done at a lower level and not at the enterprise level. Challenge is to get stakeholders to spend time and money at assessing risk to save money proactively. Train your teams on risk management.”

What you don’t know about Tom Wilp is his motto to play as hard as you work. He enjoys fishing, golfing, exercising and spending time in the outdoors. He is at the point in his career that he passes on his knowledge to develop the junior PMs, project expediters, and project coordinators “I will work until I stop having fun or stop enjoying it.”

Volunteer Spotlight - Conrad Skye Sandoval

While cost management is viewed as a continuous process, it helps to split the function into four steps: resource planning, estimation, budgeting, and control. They are mostly sequential, but it’s possible that some resource changes happen midway through the project, forcing the budgets to be adjusted. Or the variances observed during the control process can call for estimate revisions. —PMBOK®

Skye Sandoval started volunteering the summer of 2020 for the study group after being a member of the chapter for five years. The areas he enjoys most is cost, managing the money and risk. His goals with volunteering are to meet people and to retain the PMP certification knowledge. He likes mentoring the small study group and was a trainer and mentor for the past ten years.  Skye is currently a mentee for scrum master and shared that “both the mentor and mentee gives knowledge in both directions like the hands of a watch. Skye describes himself as a visual learner so when he mentors, he tells them, shows them, and lets them try it. Basically, using all three types of learning to get the concept across. His emphasizes that “we are here to help each other. Together we can make a beautiful world if we all work together.”

If you take the PMP journey, remember you must be like Steve Jobs, stay hungry and stay foolish. If you fail it will help you learn how to do things right. Skye shared that it can be painful, but it makes you strong. Everyone gets discouraged but keep going and don’t stop.

I asked Skye how he manages projects, and his approach is to divide things into four like a box. The left side of the box is the most important, the right side is the backlog. I move things around in the box quadrants as the work and priority shifts. The bottom two boxes are to keep them in the forefront. “The box keeps it simple so I can build it like a pyramid and so I can see my day.”

If you meet up with Skye Sandoval, you will realize that he is a free spirt and has a hippie mentality at heart. To relax he does yoga several times a week. He credits his mom, a geologist who took him to visit geological points around history for helping him realize that “it takes time to build something just like our 15 billion years on earth.” To sum him up he shared that “he has never met a stranger. I have traveled all over the globe and aways find something in common with them"

Volunteers Needed for Judging International Science and Engineering Fair

Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Specifics

This year ISEF will be hybrid - and we are recruiting hundreds of volunteers and judges both in-person in Atlanta, GA (May 10) and virtually (May 4 and 5). Please see below the three types of volunteers needed.  Please sign up by April 29.

Judges (in-person and virtual)
Finalists overwhelmingly say that the most significant interactions that they have at the fair are with the judges. Requires either an advanced degree, or a minimum of six years related professional experience beyond receiving a B.A., B.S., or Master’s degree.
Click here to learn more and apply
Interpreters (in-person and virtual)
ISEF is an international competition! All langauges are needed but in particular Arabic, Thai, Turkish, Spanish and Portuguese. The minimum time commitment is 4 hours.
Click here to learn more

Judging Proctor (virtual only)
Learn more about the projects, prepare the student competitor(s) for judging and provide adult supervision to ensure appropriate behavior during judging. Volunteers just need reliable internet access. The minimum time commitment is 4.5 hours.
Learn More and sign up
Join us to help these top young scientific minds come together to showcase their talent and compete for nearly $5 million in prizes and scholarships.

PMI Phoenix Specific Information

  • Judges should sign up via the links above.
  • List PMI Phoenix as the organization that you are representing.
  • Send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let him know that you are participating in this endeavor.
  • Track the hours that you spend performing your feedback responsibilities.
  • If you do have questions regarding this, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Letter from the Board Chair

Letter from the Board Chair

April 1, 2022

Arizona is transitioning from a pandemic to a post-pandemic operation, and so is the chapter.  The governor rescinded the state's emergency Covid order on March 30.  The chapter board had already planned on resuming in-person meetings, and we are working on the first in-person chapter meeting in May.  To restart in-person meetings, we need to rebuild our volunteer teams.  We have had great success building out our Study Group, Mentor, and Social Good teams but not as many volunteers for chapter operations like events.   If you have the time and want to volunteer, please apply here.

We have a social good initiative we started last week for the Humanitarian mission for the Red Cross in Ukraine.  If you can contribute to this campaign, please do so here.  We plan on implementing at least one social good project per quarter and hope to have an in-person project for the third quarter.

We have two events on the calendar this month with ProjectMasters Toastmasters.  If you're not aware, the chapter sponsors a toastmaster's club where you can earn PDUs by attending the meetings.  At ProjectMasters, you learn what it takes to master the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking--while still having a lot of fun! ProjectMasters focuses on networking with other professionals, developing public speaking skills, giving and receiving constructive feedback, and enhancing your leadership skills. They are still meeting virtually, so it's a great time to test out a meeting.

At the PMI Chapter Xchange Meeting on April 22, Christopher Gentry, a PMI Phoenix Board member, will be a panelist.   This month's topic is "The Great Resignation or the Great Rethink." Join the event for what is sure to be a great discussion.

We have Miriam Spinner presenting "Positive Intelligence" at the breakfast meeting on April 29.  You can register for the event here.

I hope to see you at one of these events this month or a future in-person event as we transition to those events.

Attributes and Strategies of the World’s Leading Project Management Offices

The report findings are based on a global survey of 4,069 individuals who are regularly tasked with leading or facilitating the delivery of projects, programs, and portfolios. The Top 10 Percent is comprised of 230 PMOs that outperform their peers by attracting and retaining talent, using innovation and technology to enhance measurement, and achieving greater influence and more successful project outcomes. These leading PMOs are more aligned with organizational strategy and are considered by executive leaders to be strategic partners. In fact, the Top 10 Percent outperformed organizations overall in 2020 across revenue, customer acquisition, customer satisfaction, and Environmental, Sustainability, and Governance (ESG) indicators. 

“Project professionals play a key role in driving economic growth and impact around the globe,” said Michael DePrisco, Interim President & CEO and Chief Operating Officer of PMI. “PMI and PwC’s extensive global research offers invaluable and actionable insights on how PMOs can increase both the value and influence of their work. By elevating the perception of project managers as strategic partners, PMOs can effectively turn ideas into reality and create lasting business results.”

Narrowing the Talent Gap

The first report in the series, Narrowing the Talent Gap, identifies the five capabilities that are critical to the successful delivery of projects: relationship building, collaborative leadership, strategic thinking, creative problem solving, and commercial awareness. The report finds the Top 10 Percent place greater emphasis on recruiting individuals with these skillsets and cultivating them through learning and development programs. They are also more likely to proactively navigate demographic trends and cultural shifts in the workplace, such as working towards increasing the diversity of candidates, upskilling young people in under-represented communities, extending recruiting beyond the area local to the role, and offering flexible working schedules.

Measuring What Matters

The second report, Measuring What Matters, examines how the Top 10 Percent have increased the number and variety of metrics, beyond the traditional scope, schedule, and budget parameters, to tell a more compelling story around project innovation and success. They ensure key performance indicators are fully aligned with the wider organization’s strategic goals, and they prioritize communication and transparency around projects with their C-Suite executives. The Top 10 Percent are also more likely to have invested in technology, including strategy execution management technology and benefit realization tools, that facilitates measurement and reporting.

PMO Maturity

The third report in the series, PMO Maturity, introduces the first-of-its-kind Global PMO Maturity Index, examining how often the most advanced PMOs perform a range of activities linked to value creation across five key dimensions: governance, integration and alignment, processes, technology and data, and people. The report concludes that the Top 10 Percent have an average maturity score of 94.9 out of 100, allowing them to have greater influence and impact in their organization and ultimately deliver more successful project outcomes. These PMOs create long-term value by pushing their scope beyond good governance, which encompasses the more “typical” activities of a PMO, and into areas like talent development, technology adoption, and strategic influence. 

“Project professionals have a vital role to play as the world navigates ongoing change and uncertainty,” said DePrisco. “We increasingly see PMOs moving beyond the tactical execution of projects and performing a wider range of activities that drive strategic value for their organizations, as evidenced by this series of reports. To become a strategic partner within their organizations, PMOs must understand the attributes and strategies exhibited by the leading organizations highlighted in this research.” 

About the reports

In July and August 2021, PMI and PwC conducted a global survey of 4,069 people involved in leading or facilitating the delivery of projects, programs, and portfolios. The survey sample was wide-ranging and included individuals with formal project management qualifications and those with job titles such as project/program/ portfolio manager, as well as those in less formal project management roles, and initiative and workstream leaders. The executive viewpoint was also well represented, with the survey capturing 1,348 C-suite responses.
The series of complete reports is available at https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership